Swimming paddle



Nov. 20, 1945. A. L. HARMON 2,389,196

swmmme PADDLE 1 Filed April 14, 1944 Alvah L.I-1ar'rnnn Mow/6v Patented Nov. 20,1945

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SWIMMING PADDLE Alvah L. Harmon, Royal Oak, Mich.

Application April 14, 1944, Serial No. 530,973

1 Claim.

My invention has for its object to provide a simple and effective paddle attachable to the hands of a swimmer to increase speed and reduce effort.

The construction and arrangement of the paddle is such that a shank of the paddle is hinged to the rear portion thereof, which shank is attached by a strap-band to the arm directly rearwardly of the wrist. The back of the paddle is provided with a pair of releasable clips, one of which is engageable between two fingers, the other being offset rearwardly from the finger clip and adapted to engage the outer edge of the palm of the hand, forming a lateral strain brace. It being understood that by spreading the clip engaged fingers, the paddle will be freed and dropped away upon its hinge connection, whereby the hand is entirely free to perform any desired surface service.

With the above and other minor objects in view, the invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts, as will be fully set forth with reference to the accompanying drawing and subsequently claimed.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 represents a plan view of a swimming paddle embodying the features of my invention, the same being shown with the hand of a swimmer in dotted lines.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the paddle illustrating the hand in dotted lines.

Figure 3 is a detail, cross sectional view of the paddle illustrating clip connections for the hand, the section being indicated 'by line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring by characters to the drawing, I indicates a paddle formed from wood, plastic or any suitable water resisting material. The rounded paddle is cut away transversely upon a straight line at its rear edge and has fixed thereto a hinge 2. This hinge carries a rectangular paddle shank 3. The upper face of this shank is provided with a pad 4 for engagement with the arm of the swimmer and said shank also carries a buckle strap 5 for firmly attaching the shank to the arm of the swimmer directly back of the Wrist.

The back face of the paddle has secured thereto a finger clip 6 doubly bowed for snug engagement of the fingers and the bowed portions terminate with an extended cap 6', which laps over the fingers to prevent accidental displacement of the paddle when the same is in use. As indicated in Figure 1, the bowed portions of the finger clips are tapered outwardly, whereby said clip can be readily adjusted between the fingers of the swimmer.

In order to brace lateral slippage or strain upon the fingers when they are clamped to the paddle, a second spring clip I is attached to the back surface of the pad and staggered backwardly and rearwardly of the finger clip. This spring clip is provided with a concave engaging face 1' against which the back edge of the palm of the hand is fitted when the hand is in proper position. The palm engaging clip, when in a swimming operation, bears against the hand when feathering or lifting the hand out of the water, whereby pressure is relieved from the fingers,

Particular attention is directed to the fact that the hinge 2 is in transverse alignment with the wrist of the swimmer, hence said hinge in a swimming operation, will permit freedom of movement of the hand. When it is desired to release the paddle from the hand, in the event that the party using the paddle desires to perform other duties where the hand must be free, all that is necessary to effect such freeing 'movement is that the swimmer simply spreads the fingers which engage the clip 6, whereby said clip will be relieved from the hand and thereafter, it the paddle is submerged at the time, the V operator will simply lift his hand and the paddle will swing downwardly upon the pivot. Likewise, the same result is obtained out of water by spreading the fingers and giving the hand a slight impulse to strip the hand from the two clips, whereby it will swing downwardly as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. Obviously the paddle may fold backwardly to the arm of the operator.

I claim:

A swimming paddle comprising a blade, a pair of gripping clips extending from the back face thereof, one of which is engageable between the two fingers of the users hand, the other clip being offset rearwardly from the finger clip adapted to engage the outer edge of the palm of the hand to form a lateral brace, a blade shank in hinge connection with the blade and a strap-band carried by the blade shank for attachment to the swimmers arm directly back of the wrist, the paddle being adapted to swing upon its hinge when the fingers and one side of the hand are disengaged from the clips.

ALVAH L. HARMON. 

